BATON ROUGE – After clocking an NCAA-leading 45.78 seconds in his first 400-meter race of the year at the Razorback Invitational two weeks ago, LSU junior Michael Cherry returned to Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday and sprinted to victory in the men’s invitational event once again to headline the opening day at the Tyson Invitational.
Just as he did in his season opener in the event, Cherry beat the field to the break and held a comfortable lead through 200 meters with a 21.56-second first lap for a nearly half-second advantage.
While Tennessee’s Nathan Strother closed the gap on the homestretch, Cherry used his strength to hold off his Southeastern Conference rival and scored a narrow victory at the tape as he leaned across the finish line just seven one-thousandths of a second in front with a winning 46.25. Cherry’s official time of 46.243 gave him the top spot in the fifth and final heat of the invitational event ahead of Strother’s 46.250.
They were rivaled in the end by Texas standout Byron Robinson, who finished just two one-hundredths of a second off the pace with the top time in the second heat at 46.27. Texas Tech’s Joseph Richards III was back in fourth place overall with a time of 46.49 to finish runner-up to Robinson in the second heat, while Florida’s Eric Futch rounded out the Top 5 in fifth place at 46.69 in the fifth heat.
Cherry continued the momentum that he brought back to the Randal Tyson Track Center where he smashed his indoor personal best with a season-opening national leader of 45.78 at the Razorback Invitational.
Two other Tigers also featured in the men’s 400-meter dash invitational alongside Cherry as senior All-American Fitzroy Dunkley took 11th place overall with a 47.09 clocking to finish runner-up in the first heat and junior LaMar Bruton followed in 17th place among the five heats with his time of 47.93. Dunkley (46.75) and Bruton (46.87) also set their seasonal bests in the event at the Razorback Invitational two weeks ago.
The Lady Tigers also highlighted Friday’s opener at the Tyson Invitational with their performance in the 400-meter dash as junior Travia Jones and sophomore Kymber Payne both turned in indoor personal bests on the afternoon. Payne was the first LSU athlete to step onto the track on the day as she raced to an indoor best of 54.62 for a seventh-place finish overall in the early sections of the women’s 400 meters. Jones later clocked an indoor PR of her own at 53.59 for fourth place in the second heat and 16th place overall in the women’s invitational event.
Sophomore All-American Daeshon Gordon lined up in the 60-meter hurdles for the first time since LSU’s 2016 indoor opener at the Purple Tiger Invitational and cracked the NCAA’s Top 15 with her efforts on Friday.
After hurdling to a seasonal-best time of 8.25 for the top time in the first round of qualifying, Gordon returned to the track for the semifinal round and raced to a second-straight seasonal best of 8.22 to advance to the final with the second-fastest time in the field. Gordon’s 8.22 also made her the No. 15-ranked sprint hurdler in the collegiate ranks for the 2016 season.
Gordon added a run of 8.23 in the final to claim fourth place overall as she followed Auburn’s Samantha Scarlett (8.14), Arkansas’ Payton Stumbaugh (8.16) and Miami’s Ebony Morrison (8.18) in just her second meet of the season. She will look to strengthen her qualifying position for the NCAA Championships over the next two weeks while running at the LSU Twilight and SEC Indoor Championships.
Also qualifying for an event final on the opening day of competition at the Tyson Invitational was fellow sophomore All-American Mikiah Brisco, who sprinted to the finish line in 7.26 to bag the bronze medal for the 60-meter dash. Florida’s Shayla Sanders struck gold in the event with a winning time of 7.22, while Texas’ Teahna Daniels also edged Brisco at the tape with a time of 7.23 for second place.
Junior Jada Martin and sophomore Aleia Hobbs both advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 60 meters as Martin finished 13th overall at 7.41 and Hobbs followed in 16th in the field at 7.46 after running her seasonal-best time of 7.40 in the first round of qualifying.
Three LSU athletes also saw action on Friday afternoon while running at the Iowa State Classic in Ames as sophomores Christian Johnson and Ashley Welborn and freshman Monica Guillot all ran the 5,000 meters.
While running their first 5,000-meter races of the season, Welborn clocked 18 minutes, 14.20 seconds for 48th place overall and Guillot ran 18:45.03 for 50th place overall while lining up in the second section. Johnson had a season-opening run of 15:51.96 in the fourth heat of the men’s 5k to finish in 68th place overall in the event on Friday night.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will feature in three meets on Saturday as the action resumes at the Iowa State Classic and gets underway for the first time at the LSU High Performance Meet in Baton Rouge at 10 a.m. CT at the Carl Maddox Field House. Saturday’s action at the Tyson Invitational continues at 12:30 p.m. CT with the first finals on the track for the LSU Track & Field teams.